Five days and 200 miles up the Texas Coast. John and David Goodman in their Goat Island Skiff

Last year the wind was howling from behind. This year there was a fair bit of upwind stuff and the wind was somewhat lighter.

John And his son sailed their lime green and newly built Goat Island Skiff (named GIR) in the event and it sounds like they have done quite well.

This year it looks a bit calmer. Or at least in the 1/250 second of this photo.

I will try to find more

From John in the Morning

GIR crew left this morning shortly after 8:05 am. It had rained lightly during the night. Fortunately it had already stopped by morning. They are off to the next stop – Paul’s Mott where Long Reef runs into St. Joseph’s Island in Aransas Bay. Let’s hope they’ll have some cell reception and good weather!

In the Afternoon

Day 3 was another day of sailing upwind.

The winds are coming from the East so there was a lot of tacking upwind. Both sails were in use today with no reefing. There were not head bumps today but some pretty scary moments were had. While crossing the ship channel the wind died at the most unnerving times. All the boats felt stressed crossing it. It was a relief that no one got run over. David says they were in danger 3 times!

After the channel crossing they went around Shamrock Island (which was the long route) then headed for Blind Pass. They missed the channel for Blind Pass and hit bottom, but the second time around they found the way in by staying close to the grass (10 feet off shore). They are camping tonight at Paul’s Mott on the beach there.

They’ll be off early again tomorrow. Tonight’s menu was Chicken Fajitas for David and Spaghetti and Meat Sauce for John. MMMMMM

Tomorrow’s destination is Army Hole. David says they are pretty fast and will beat almost everyone.

Goodnight until tomorrow.

Next day

First half of the day had light winds and it was very hot . It was a good opportunity to put up the bimini which helped a lot! After leaving Paul’s Mott we took the inter coastal waterway to marker 31, then we sailed to Panther Reef Cut.

Going through there we saw a big school of redfish about 36 inches big that were probably spawning (they were stirring up the bottom). Then we headed for South Pass to Army Hole.

We outpaced a Core Sound 17 and a Sea Pearl 21 . We were the 2nd boat to sail in (we don’t have a motor) after a Hobby 16. We docked at about 5ish in a beautiful slip in Army Hole and enjoyed the rest of the day.

Tomorrow will be a short day and we might just wait till the wind picks up before we set out.
We should be arriving around noon.

GIR out.

To beat a core sound is quite an accomplishment … they are quick. Could be extra sail area from the bimini! Glad that they only used it in the light wind.

The Core Sound designer is also from Australia.

Day 3

Day 3 was another day of sailing upwind. The winds are coming from the East so there was a lot of tacking upwind.

Both sails were in use today with no reefing. There were not head bumps today but some pretty scary moments were had. 😯 While crossing the ship channel the wind died at the most unnerving times. All the boats felt stressed crossing it. It was a relief that no one got run over.

David says they were in danger 3 times! 😯 After the channel crossing they went around Shamrock Island (which was the long route) then headed for Blind Pass.

They missed the channel for Blind Pass and hit bottom, but the second time around they found the way in by staying close to the grass (10 feet off shore). They are camping tonight at Paul’s Mott on the beach there.

They’ll be off early again tomorrow. Tonight’s menu was Chicken Fajitas for David and Spaghetti and Meat Sauce for John. MMMMMM 😛

Tomorrow’s destination is Army Hole. David says they are pretty fast and will beat almost everyone. 😆

Goodnight until tomorrow.

Final Day – Finishing note

The first GIS Yawl has finished it’s first 200 mile shake down cruise up the Texas coast. We are very happy with how the boat performed. We had no wind up to about 15knot gusts during the 5 day event.

We just rolled in and I am ready for a shower. Will post more details later.

What a great sailing boat!

Here is John or David looking quite salt encrusted

Finishing Day – Report

GIR Day 5

At end of day 4 we had had a great sail to Army Hole and quickly set up camp. David crawled into the tent and took a 4 hour nap. I broke out some of our comfort food and a group of sailors enjoyed it with some great conversations. Comfort food was crackers, hard salami and cheese-n-a-can. Nothing any of us would eat while at home, but it sure tasted good after a very long day.

My right hand and shoulder were very tired, sore and swollen from sailing on starboard tack all day. The moon rise was beautiful, the evening cool and a slow stream of people brought their boats into Army Hole as the sun set. The arrival of the Puddle Ducks (smallest boat in the fleet) brought everyone out to cheer them into the harbor. Those guys are tough.

We slept in and cleaned up the boat and were the last ones to leave. With a light wind and a adverse current we spent some time sailing along with some of the other boats talking about boats and other things. With a light wind hard on the nose, the channel was not fun with lots of power boaters and barges making the water feel like a washing machine.

After we turned the corner at the end of the jetties a slow downwind sail to Magnolia Beach began. We put up our umbrellas, extra sail area and shade, and drifted. The waves were building, but the wind didn’t. Balancing the boat was getting to be a challenge for David who had been at the helm since we left Army Hole. After we switched the wind increased and made it a lot funnier to surf the boat down the waves. (very small waves)

We pulled up onto the beach and were greeted by my wife Rosa and my parents. We did it!

The Goat Island Skiff and happy family members at the end of the 2010 Texas200

While the Goat Island Skiff is designed for more conservative sailing than this, it shows that with care small boats can be used for quite adventurous outings. The things in favour of this event are that it is protected from the ocean by low sand islands most of the way, the water is very warm so little risk of hypothermia, except for the main channel and some of the bays standing water depth is not far away, and there are a lot of other boats in the event to keep track of you.

On the "round Australia trip" I found myself employed by a tiny business in Adelaide - Duck Flat Wooden Boats in Adelaide.
It was an eye opener - It became clear that one could build a boat for a fraction of the cost of current racing boats.
My ideas hinged around high performance, easy building, fun to sail and reasonably cheap
Today Storer Boats are built in all countries and we have active groups on Facebook for the following groups
Goat Island Skiff
Open Goose
Storer Boat plans
Really Simple Sails

The standard sail is a balance lug and it has several advantages over standard gaff rigs, particularly performance. Around the 1900s it was generally preferred for small racing boats than the gaff. Later it evolved into the Gunter lug which went efficiently through to the second world war for recreational racing in many parts of the world.

The standard single sail boat is faster to rig on the beach and derig after. So it makes a lot of sense for a sail after work or where you don’t want to fuss around much. If cruising there are advantages to the yawl rig in terms of boat handling and being able to reef while sailing.

However the Yawl Goats that have been built so far have had the two mast positions for the mainmast, so you can choose single or two sails when you actually get down to the beach.

We used (2) Glidden products. Gripper Primer & Porch & Floor oil/alkyd polyurethane gloss paint for the hull. They local big box store can mix any color but the lime green on our boat is called Pucker Up.

I have gotten into it from the back before in deep water. You may want to add a step. Also it is remarkably stable. I would not board it from the side though.

Enrico Franconi has a video of sailing between islands and snorkeling from the goat.

Here is Enrico's video. He has camping gear in his boat and food and water so it is a lot more stable than when empty. So he can jump over the side. He has a superlight folding ladder he made for the transom.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=kavwTqTnoZo

How much time do you folks who have completed your goats think you have in your builds? I'm guessing 250 to 500 hours depending on skill level and degree of, um, ornamentation. I'm planning to start this fall and budget about 10 hours a week. ... See MoreSee Less

Mine took about 300h, or two and a half years, depending on how you count...

I say you can do less if you're efficient. Or you could make it in record time by buying mine, for sale in Provincetown!

I spent about 300 hours spread over 3 years. I had no idea what I was doing and no experience either building boats or general woodworking. I could probably shave some time off if I built another.

I think mine took three and a half months working nights and weekends.

6 months calendar time using a Clint Chase kit.

I'm sorry the blizzard conditions prevented our get-together last winter. I look forward to following your progress building your Goat.

I have been keeping a log of build times and my numbers are a bit higher. Starting with a Clinton B Chase kit, it took me right at 100 hours to build the rudder, centerboard and 5 spars for the yawl rig. All are glassed and/or coated and ready for light sanding then varnish. On the boat itself, I went 3D at 53 hours. I am currently at 205 hours total with the bottom on, C/B case installed and working on the mast step/partner. This total includes an extra 25 hours for the strip construction seats. My guess is that I will be at 300 when I complete construction and ready for paint/varnish. I am building the yawl rig which no doubt adds some time.

Thanks for the replies all! I'm using oukoume plywood and locally sourcing the rest of the lumber. Spars to be Finn Forest Spruce LVL, birds mouthed, round. Grown red oak knees. Can't wait to get started!

It took me 11 months working diligently part time...say 20 hrs per/wk average. If my math is correct that's somewhere around 880 hours. I added a few extra fancy bits which added more time but most people seem to add something. I am also an admitted detail guy and probably spent more time than most on making sure everything was just the way I wanted it.

I kept accurate track of time on my blog. Each post has an hour log at the end. It added up to 440 hours but it was my first boat and I went for a high level of finish. I'd estimate that at least 1/3 of the time was due to the fit and finish I wanted to achieve. Fancy details add to the time exponentially. Something like surface mounting oarlocks might take a few minutes to drill 3 holes and insert two screws turns into hours when you set up to route pockets in the gunwale for flush mounting.

8 months, with 5 of those at 12-15 hours a week, and the other 3 at 20-25 hours a week. 600 hours or so.

I'm two months in and the hull is shaped and epoxied. I've been devoting most of my free time to this thing, with weeks of reading blogs and doing research beforehand. Epoxy coating/varnishing/painting takes forever, so I've still got a long road ahead of me, not counting the mast, daggerboard, rudder, spars and all that that I will do this winter. I just wanna throw it in the water and see it float.

In general, building from a kit saves about 25% time. FWIW.

Regarding calendar time (vs hours worked): a big problem for me was not having a heated workspace. I was working in an unheated, uninsulated, detached garage. So I was shut down for about 5 months each year when it was too cold for the epoxy. Since you are in MA, try to make sure you have heat.

But don't hang around in a warmed epoxy fumed space yourself.
All the methods in the plan are about dry assemble a heap of stuff and then do the epoxy process.
Then it's time to get out of the enclosed space.
In South Australia there's a long build season but the few Winter months are pretty bad for epoxy work.
The three worst cases of sensitisation were men, a bit older, working in heated enclosed spaces which they hung around inside

Paul Swanson if you don't want to buy mine, you're still welcome to come
see it if you like- it's very close-right?

Pictures would probably help, does it have a trailer, who made the rig, what fittings Harken/ronstan/etc What cordage dymeena, hemp etc.

It's hard to say what the market will bear. Your boat might be "worth" $5-7 thousand. Not many will pay that for a row boat with a sail. Even at a couple of thou, you may be competing with used Lasers. It all depends what else is available and how "boat savvy" prospective buyers are.
(Sorry for not being helpful at all...)

We have had a reasonable success rate at finding new owners for boats. So put together the details you will need for an advertisement and post here.

it has Dynema sheets and halyard. it has a custom wood trailer. the sail was made by really simple sails. the mast is a hollow birdsmouth spar. the lug and boom are both solid.the fitting are kind of cobbled together, but they all work well. i think the pictures on the website will help.

the boat is located in Mojave CA

Your best bet will probably be advertising here as there will be people interested in a GIS rather than hoping to get a random sale.

I just paid $2k for a boat from Tenn it was in new shape build was a B+ (some drips etc) had a new light weight trailer. I feel I got a great deal considering what material alone would cost. I would start at 3k plus if the build was quality etc

Glad to get back to building after 1 1/2 month break. The Admiral wanted a bathroom remodel and wood flooring in the master bedroom, and you know the old saying. If she isn't happy........ Thankfully that is all done and I have been authorized to return to boat building.

Spent the last few days doing the final sanding, glassing and coating the spars. I am very pleased with how they came out. The mast is birdsmouth and all the others are solid, build from Clinton B Chase kit. "Tipping" the epoxy with a foam brush resulted in a surface that will take very little sanding before varnish. I am planning to use Epifanes Rapidcoat to darken and even out the color just a bit.

For those of you who care about such things:mast - 21#/9.5kgboom - 7#/3.2kgyard - 5.4#/2.4kgmizzen - 5#/2.3kgsprit boom - 0.6#/0.3kg

Next on my dance card is the main mast partner then tank tops. ... See MoreSee Less